NYANTLER 2012 Adventures

[nyantler]

Thought it would be a good idea to jot down some of my 2012 adventures... Rained today so I had misgivings about even going into the woods with the recurve, but the urge got the best of me so I donned my rainsuit and headed off behind th house. I came upon a scrape line right behind the house last weekend so I thought I'd try to get a look at the buck that made them... as I popped into the woods at about 8:15 a.m. just off my back lawn I spotted a deer moving through the woods about 40 yards away..it was a spike buck with about a 12 inch spread and good curls on the spikes.. he passed within 10 yards.. I drew on him just so just to know that I could.. and let him continue on his way.. spent the next few hours still hunting.. snuck up on two does I saw moving through the golden rod.. but could only get a front on shot at about 20 yards before they finally realized I was standing in front of them... I have been seeing lots of deer and lots of bucks but nothing yet that has got me excited... should be a good weekend though... lots of movement.

[nyantler]

Called in a small 6-point from 200 yards away tonight... he came in running... stopped like someone yanked his tail when he hit some scent I had laid out in front of me.. what's up with that?... he got all nervous and woudn't come in close enough for a good picture... found a huge rub on a big cedar tree with tine marks scraping the tree just behind it.. thats a big boy!

[dave6x6]

Good stuff Joe. Keep the posts coming. This farmland hunter can use all the still hunting advice you can give. So be as specific as possible.. LOL I'm taking notes.

[nyantler]

Heading to my camp today in the tughill area with my oldest son... going to try our luck on some state land there.

[First-light]

Enjoying your posts. I had to bail out of a 3 day weekend hunt because of the storm, this helps!! I will one day re-string my Browning Nomad Stalker and take to the woods, one day.

[nyantler]

Another update... last friday I finally got a good look at a big buck on my leased land while still hunting an abandon road in the woods. While tip toeing along I was scanning the side of a steep hill that runs along the left side of the road.. after taking a couple ginger steps on the dry leaves, trying to be as quite as possible, I saw what I thought was two birds flying up the hill.. it turned out to be the tails of a buck and a doe.. they had been standing on the hillside and blended in so well that I couldn't see them until they moved.. they didn't see me or smell me.. the buck was chasing her up the hill.. they both must have been tired because it took them some time to make it up the hill giving me a great look at him... nice heavy beamed buck out a bit past the ears... no telling what he had for number of tines but they were tall enough that I could tell he was a shooter immediately. Would have made for a nice gun opportunity, but we still have a few more days before losing the bow. Later that evening hunting the area near where I saw the buck and walked up on a buck standing in the goldenrod just 25 yards away... at first I though it was a doe.. from the side I couldn't see any antlers at all then he turned and faced away from me and I put the bino's on him so I could see better through the grass.. he had a 4-5" spike on the left side and the right antler grew downward along his head and stuck straight out 3-4" just below his ear near his jaw.

Today I was walking the same road, just pussy footin' along, stopping every couple of slow steps to scan the area... I had just started to take another step when I saw movement in the woods about 30 yards in front of me.. then I saw horns.. not the big boy though.. but a handsome young 8-point still inside the ears. He was walking directly at me, nose on the ground and had no clue I was there...I crouched down behind a bush that was next to me ( I always walk on the very edge of the road on the side that is farthest from the direction of the wind) well today the wind was heavy and unpredictable although it was in my favor for the time being. Although I had no intension of taking this buck, I still wanted to see how close I could get him to me and see if I could draw on him without being detected. He got to within 20 yards and stopped before putting his nose in the air.. with the wind moving all around he had finally gotten a whiff of me, he took another sniff of the air and slowly turned... now he was broadside to me so I drew on him with the recurve to know that I could.. then let off... he took one more sniff in the air and started walking back the way he came.. so for the hell of it I blew the grunt and stopped him... he turned and looked right at me... or probably through me.. he got nervous and started trotting away, popping out on the road about 40-50 yards ahead then started walking again.. he turned once more to take a look then bounded away into the woods stopping a few times to blow at me then proceed on down into the ravine below.. this all happened less than 50 yards from where I saw the big buck on friday morning.

Edited November 12, 2012 by nyantler

[Zem18]

Exciting hunt and doing it the hard way, on the ground with a recurve. Kudos to you. Good luck chasing the big boy.

[nyantler]

Only had about an hour to hunt last night... I actually had my work clothes on ... i just grabbed a coat, my bow and my quiver then headed out. I wasn't hunting for 5 minutes when I saw a deer walking across the open corn lot nose down... I put the glasses on him and saw that it was a little buck... I swung around through a noisey piece of woods to a treestand I have in line with the direction he was heading.. I wasn't going to kill this buck but I hoped to get a good pic of him... he passed within about 50 yards but not close enough for a picture... I got down from the stand after he left and head for a hillside orchard that I like to hunt. as I snuck alone a grassy area just before entering the orchard, I saw a deer moving quickly in my direction. I stepped through a hedgerow I was near and watched as a hig racked 7-point emerged from the orchard and on to the grass... although his rack was quite high it had no width or real mass and his body said younger buck. He was moving so quickly though that I wanted to get a better look before passing on him... he was angling towards the end of the hedgerow so I did my best to be quiet on the crunchy leaves and make it to the end of the hedge to meet him. He was moving too quickly so I stopped about 15 yards from the end of the hedge. I could see him just on the other side of the hedge, nose down about 25 yards out. He would pop into the opening shortly.. I waited as he emerged into the opening.. I drew on him at 15 yards and let off when I saw that he wasn't a buck I wanted to take... two more steps and he recoiled like someone had pulled him by the tail... he had just gotten a good whiff of me and realized he had made a huge mistake.. he whirled around and loped off the way that he had come... pretty cool stuff!

Edited November 15, 2012 by nyantler